Erick and Rich chat about the coronavirus pandemic's effect on hardware sales, surveying your clients about when they'll return to the office (if ever), and the recent spike in people who say they're locked down at home with a ghost.

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ICYMI: Our Channel News Roundup for the Week of October 9th

It seems the news this week is all about the wrong kind of golden and glowing hills out west, and our fingers are crossed for friends dealing with yet another catastrophe. Everybody do a rain dance on this Friday the 13th. While dancing, think about clouds holding data along with water. Does our data need to be waterproof now?

Speaking of clouds, there’s always cloud news, including from Dell and BMC and Box and more and more. Where there’s data, waterproof or not, there’s security issues. Where there’s a security concern, there are new and interesting ways to shield, save, sync, and secure data both wet and dry. So let’s towel off some data bits we missed.

Ring that Dell, BMC, and holodecks. Dell can see clearly now a new way to organize, manage, and secure the messy world of IoT. The new IoT Division, headed up by former VMware CTO Ray O’Farrell, hits the cloud running with new strategy, product, labs, partner programs, and consumption models.

Where do people in ST:TNG go to relax? Yes, the holodeck. Ring up NVIDIA for an invite to its new NVIDIA Holodeck (pictured). Some designers and developers are getting a sneak peek at the intelligent virtual reality platform.

Newsbits in another Box. BoxWorks 2017 attendees got to preview Box Skills, a framework for applying machine learning tools, sentiment analysis, and more cleverness to content stored in Box. Nintex, meanwhile, unveiled its Nintex Workflow for Box to help customers automate processes within Box environments.

Scanners, security, software, and so on. Canon U.S.A. added to its list of scanners with the imageFORMULA DR-M260, able to gobble up to 60 double-sided pages per minute (don’t worry, it’s a scanner not a shredder).

Security concerns never stop, so use the Kensington Locking Bracket to keep your Microsoft Surface Book from going somewhere without you.

Thycotic released a free password generator that creates the password only on the local device, per security best practices.

The “so on” about other vendor news.8x8 revs up the executive ranks with three new hires. Prepare welcome banners for Milan Martin, vice president of global brand and marketing communications; Lynn Porterfield, vice president of U.S. midmarket demand generation; and Anders Unosson, vice president of marketing optimization.

ConnectWise added more chairs around the board of directors table for new members Stan Levy and Steve Raymund (pictured, and yes, he’s the Tech Data guy).

Zoho Assist, the free online remote support application from Zoho, now works with Spiceworks Remote Support.

ID Agent, provider of Dark Web monitoring solutions, says its SpotLight ID personal identity and credit monitoring service can now only be acquired through the channel.

ServiceNow HR Service Delivery software will include native integration with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central in a product release later this year.

Infinite Group Inc. tells us its Nodeware vulnerability management system is now available via master agent Telarus.

Savvius waves the incentive flag through December 15, 2017, offering trade-in credits and discounts for PartnerONE members to take to their customers.

This week’s stats ticker:

New research from MarketsandMarkets predicts a CAGR of 27.4 percent for encryption software through 2022. North America will retain the largest market share, but Asia Pacific (APAC) will likely have the fastest growth rate.

Barracuda Networks released a global study titled Office 365 Adoption Survey: Drivers, Risks, and Opportunities with responses from over 1,100 organizations of all sizes. Highlights? Microsoft Office 365 adoption rates jumped 20 percent in just over a year, and nearly half of those who don’t have O365 plan to make the switch. Barriers? Advanced email threats set security senses tingling, with three-quarters of those planning to migrate nervous about the problem. Ransomware remains a top concern.

Spiceworks announced the results of its 2018 State of IT report at SpiceWorld 2017 (a much more sedate gathering than Spice Girls 1996). Good news: IT budgets should stabilize and likely grow, meaning more IT staff hiring in the future. Put the spotlight on emerging tech like AI, IoT, and VR for job seekers. Only 11 percent of respondents expect a budget decrease. Most see good times ahead, with cloud services moving up to about 21 percent of the budget.

Paging Homer Simpson. Because who loves doughnuts more than him? Surprisingly, the “Super Rich,” at least according to CNBC and its story of the $100 doughnut. Yes, $100, which actually seems like a bargain when you hear the details.

To make the “Golden Cristal Ube,” the Manila Social Club in Miami starts with ube, described as a “naturally purple sweet yam found in the Phillippines.” Dough and icing include a “generous dose” of Cristal champagne ($200 per bottle). After airbrushing each one with 24 carat gold, Chef Bjorn DelaCruz covers the top with gold leaf by hand. Each $1,200 box is delivered in a Rolls Royce.

Does your company have the bucks/chutzpah to treat the gang to $100 donuts at your next morning staff meeting? If so, please send photos.

Get an edge on the competition

With each issue packed full of powerful news, reviews, analysis, and advice targeting IT channel professionals, ChannelPro-SMB will help you cultivate your SMB customers and run your business more profitably.